FOX Sues Middle Aged Mom for $15 Million for Distributing DEADPOOL Script!
Fox Studios is slapping a $15 million dollars lawsuit on a middle aged mom named Patricia McIlvaine who sells flowers over the phone, because she distributed a Deadpool script via e-mail. This just doesn't seem right.
We've gotten several e-mails from the Fox lawyers over the years asking us to take down certain things that we've posted that have leaked out. The e-mails we get from them are very harsh and unfriendly. We've always complied with the requests, but after this news I will not take these e-mails lightly as I have been. I usually laugh when I get one because they are utterly ridiculous.
Fox is serious, and they mean business. The same legal team that sends out these e-mails is suing the pants off this poor woman who is also an aspiring screenwriter. They aren't suing the person that actually leaked the script, they aren't even pursuing those people. They are suing the person that e-mailed it to some people.
From McIlvaine's site..
Two strangers knocked on her door and informed her, in front of her children, 20th Century Fox was suing her for 15 million dollars. Two hours later, after grilling her with questions for two solid hours, they left her stunned and crying in her living room staring at a business card that stated they were “private investigators.”
This was the first contact PJ had from 20th Century Fox regarding a Media Fire online script library she created — and was the day 20th Century Fox filed a law suit against PJ in federal court for fifteen million dollars.
Wow! She didn't even get a warning. McIlvaine goes on to describe herself as "a struggling screenwriter who sells flowers over the phone by day and writes scripts by night." She explains that she collected scripts that were already posted online and created a free online library of scripts in order to assist other screenwriters.
There are certain websites that actually reprinted entire excerpts of the script with their review and those articles have been allowed to remain up. I have no idea why this has been allowed, unless these sites are in Fox's pocket. Why aren't they being sued?
According to the complaint, McIlvaine's actions allegedly cause particular damage to films and TV shows that are still in development. The postings "interfere and trade off of the costly and carefully designed creative processes that produce finished works ready for public consumption. They harm the fans who do not want their enjoyment of a movie or television show to be spoiled by knowing the story ahead of actually being able to watch it."
That's complete crap! This doesn't harm the fans! The fans choose for themselves if they want something spoiled for them! We always issue a spoiler statement before spoiling something, and at that point it's up to the reader to spoil it for themselves. Chances are if a fan is seeking out to read the Deadpool script they are going to find it and read it on their own. This woman wasn't forcing fans to read the script.
I think this lawsuit is utterly ridiculous, maybe Fox should go after the people that actually leaked the script online.
What do you think about this?